“Something came up at the office,” Lorna offered in explanation.
Melanie drew in a long breath and gave her mother a weak smile. “You don’t have to cover for him, Mom. I know he’s still angry with me. But I thought he’d at least join us for dinner tonight before I have to leave tomorrow.”
“Sweetheart, you can’t ask him to be what he can’t be.”
Melanie laughed at the irony. It was so easy for her mother to accept who her father was, but she couldn’t seem to accept it in Melanie. She knew her mother didn’t understand what was driving Melanie to leave, or what the cause of her sadness had been since she’d returned from Wyoming. Other than inquiring about her health and fussing after her, Lorna had steered all talk away from Stoney.
In the beginning, Melanie was grateful. Every time she’d allow herself to think about Stoney, she’d break down. Lorna wasn’t a stupid woman. The bonds of their mother-daughter relationship had always included an unspoken language. She knew how to read her daughter and had simply chosen not to acknowledge that Melanie was suffering from a broken heart.
“As always you look beautiful with your hair swept up like that,” Lorna said. “I think that black sequined hand bag is a perfect match for your dress.”
“The satin one goes just as well,” Melanie said, not really caring if she wore a saddlebag hoisted over her shoulder with the black dress. It was a new style, a dress she’d bought in a funk one afternoon after she’d come home from Wyoming. In a futile attempt to get her mind off Stoney, she turned around and bought the dress with him in mind anyway.
She inspected herself in the mirror. The dress was shorter than she remembered it being in the boutique, giving ample view of her slender thighs. Black stockings concealed the markings on her upper thigh where she gave herself her insulin shots. After wearing hiking boots for so long, her feet looked dainty and out of place in the kind of black heels she’d been used to wearing before she went to Wyoming.
Before she went to Wyoming. Is that what it had come down to? Would everything in her life be gauged by what her life had been like before and after she went to Wyoming? Before she’d fallen in love with Stoney Buxton?
“All the men at the country club are sure to only have eyes for you,” Lorna said, chuckling. “Maybe even some of the married ones as well. You know Byron Estabrooks. He thinks he’s hiding his eyes beneath those five hundred dollar sunglasses he always wears, but he’s not fooling anyone. His head snaps so fast every time a beautiful woman walks by, I’m surprised he hasn’t sued the club for whiplash yet.”
“I'm not really in the mood for the country club tonight. Why don’t we go someplace else more private?” The last thing Melanie wanted to do was put on a fake face and be gracious when it wasn’t in her heart.
“Miles Forester will be there tonight.”
Melanie rolled her eyes, knowing what her mother was after. It was a conversation they'd had a million times. “Mom, I’m leaving tomorrow and I’m not coming back. I don't want you fixing me up--”
Lorna’s smile faded. “Of course you’ll be back. This is your home.”
Feeling guilty for being so abrupt, Melanie amended, “I mean, I won’t be back here to live. Of course I’ll be back to visit.”
Lorna averted her gaze and was about to say something when they both heard raised voices. It sounded like their butler, Robert, talking to someone down in the foyer. “That doesn't sound like Robert. I wonder what that is all about?” Lorna finally said.
“It's probably nothing. I'm almost ready getting dressed,” Melanie said. She reached for her purse, but something about that voice caught her attention and made her pause. She left her purse on the bed and advanced toward her bedroom door.
“What is it, Melanie?” she heard her mother say behind her as she rounded the corner leading to the grand stairway.
The voices grew louder, flowing up to the second floor from the foyer below. One angry voice was rough edged, unmistakable, and musical to her ears all at the same time. Stoney was here. He was here! How on earth and why she didn’t much care at the moment.
Her movements hastened as she took each step down the stairs with jelly legs. She forced herself to stay calm, not wanting to misunderstand the reason Stoney had come all the way to Long Island. Stopping midway on the stairs, she caught site of Stoney with Robert.
“I just want to talk to her for a minute,” Stoney said, the deep timbre of his voice booming off the cold marble floor and fixtures of the grand foyer.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” Robert said.
“It’s okay,” Melanie said, looking into Stoney’s dark eyes as he lifted his gaze to her.
Her heart was in her throat, and her mouth went cotton dry when their eyes met. Her memory hadn't done justice to him. He slowly took off the white straw cowboy hat that seemed to glow against his tanned skin and dark hair. Unlike the first time she'd seen him, he was cleanly shaven and dressed in what looked to her would be considered his Sunday clothes. And he was absolutely the most wonderful sight a girl could ever hope for. And he was here.
She carefully took each step down the wide staircase, never taking her eyes from his.
“Can I get you anything?” Robert asked when she'd reached the first floor.
Melanie shook her head. When Robert was gone, she turned to Stoney. “I didn't think I'd see you again.”
Stoney hesitated for a second, then reached into his pocket and pulled something out. “I came to return your check.”
Her heart fell through the floor. What was this all about? “You earned it.”
“We only stayed out in the mountains for nine days.”
“That was my fault, not yours.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about this.”
“Good, because I’m not taking the money back. A deal is a deal.” She gazed at him for a long while, weighing the silence that echoed in the foyer, closing in on them. Impatience reigning, she said, “Long Island is a long way to come just to return a check. You could have just sent it in the mail.”
“Yeah, well, some business is better handled face to face.”
“Business?” She fought to hide her disappointment. “I’m not taking your money, Stoney Buxton. You may be fool enough to bust your stubborn hide on the back of some bull, but at least be smart enough not to throw away what was earned. That money was meant for your family, too. For Black Rock. You can’t just throw that away.”
“You care that much about the ranch?”
“Of course. It’s your life. It's everything to you.”
“Not everything,” he said softly. He glanced around the foyer and heaved a sigh. “What about you? You have some big dreams of your own.”
Yeah, but none of them meant much since she left Wyoming, she thought. She looked at the check he held out to her. With both her hands, she bent his fingers closed around it. With great strength, she pulled her hands from his. “Please just take the money.”
He balled his fist, crumpling the check before letting it drop to the floor. Damn him for being so stubborn, Melanie thought as she bent down to give it back to him. He grabbed her by the arm to stop her motion. “Your idea about Mitch buying a share of the ranch was a good one. With some hard work, I think Black Rock will be okay.”
She smiled softly, remembering the day she first arrived at the ranch and found Stoney all dirty and sweaty mending fences by the corral. She’d had so many dreams that day. How could she have known their lives would have taken such a turn? “I’m glad everything worked out for you.”
He swallowed, tapping the brim of his straw hat with his fingers, looking around the foyer uncomfortably. She noticed the tight set in his jaw. “And what about you? Are you going to work with Park Services?”
“Possibly. But not in Wyoming.”
Stoney's shoulders sagged slightly, giving Melanie hope for the reason for his disappointment. After everything he said, was he secretly hoping she’d come back to Wyoming?
Or was this just her wishful heart hoping that Stoney Buxton was really in love with her. That he really wanted her in his life forever. It had torn her apart to leave Wyoming and come back to Long Island, back to the life she so detested.
She crossed her arms across her chest. “I haven’t decided exactly where I’m going yet, but I have a lead on a job in the Everglades.”
A bittersweet smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Slow. Sexy. And oh, so Stoney. “You’re not afraid of hanging out with alligators?”
She couldn't help but laugh. “Stoney Buxton, you are the wildest beast I could ever encounter and I’m not afraid of you.”
He looked at her for a long moment, as if he was about to say something, trying to decide. Her heart pounded in her chest until she thought it would burst.
“Was there anything else?” she asked, hoping he'd say the words she wanted to hear.
He propped his cowboy hat on his head and dipped the rim low, almost covering his eyes. “That's it. I need to be getting back to the ranch.” He turned and walked toward the door, and she thought she was going to die.
He gripped the polished brass doorknob, opening the door a crack, then shutting it again. “I’m a stubborn man, Melanie,” he said, still staring at the door.
“What?”
He swung around, the determined look on his face told her he’d made his decision to speak his mind. “It was wrong of me to keep you from doing what you wanted. I had no right to make that decision for you.” He swallowed hard. “So if you still want to work with the Park Services, with Ivan Collins, or in the Everglades, then you should do it.”
“Why, Stoney?”
He looked surprised at her question, as if that was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “Because that’s what you want. I want you to be happy.”
The only thing that was going to make her happy was for Stoney to wrap his arms around her and tell her words he was too damned stubborn to say. She wanted him to say he loved her more than rodeo, more than ranching, more than life itself. But was she fooling herself?
Stoney tipped his hat, his eyes saying more than his words could ever say. In them, she saw all the words she wanted to hear. “If you ask me, you're too beautiful to be playing with 'gators, Sunshine.”
She bristled. Beautiful. After all this, she was just another beautiful woman? She didn’t want to be beautiful, not like the woman she was raised to be, not like the women who hung out at the cowboy bars, hoping to get a date with an up and coming bull rider. She wanted love. More than anything, she wanted Stoney’s love.
“Good luck, Stoney,” she said, forcing the words past her disappointment.
He hesitated a moment before he reached up and feathered her cheek with his fingers. Then he closed the door behind him, and he was gone. And she felt her world close in around her for the second time.
* * *
Stoney stood on the granite steps outside of Melanie's parents' lavish home, staring at the door behind him. Was he really so prideful that he couldn’t tell Melanie how he felt? Why was it so hard for him to say the words?
Because you have nothing to give her, he told himself. Did he really think she could be happy living with him in Wyoming with nothing but a broken down ranch and hard living for the rest of her life? Everything about this house was flashy and rich. She’d grown up with the very best that life had to offer, with a silver slate just waiting to be drawn on. And all he would be doing was bringing her back to a home she couldn’t even call her own.
He had nothing to offer her back in Wyoming. Sure, they’d saved the ranch, but it was going to be a long while before they could breathe easy. If she decided to come back to Wyoming, it would have to be because she’d decided on her own. He couldn’t ask her to give up everything for nothing.
He'd parked his truck in the circular driveway in front of the main entrance, but the walk to it seemed endless. With each step, he was acutely aware of how much farther it was taking him from Melanie.
He stopped short as the door to the house opened. He swung around, expecting to see Edmond T. Summers III coming at him with a shotgun, which is what he’d probably be doing if some cowboy showed up on his doorstep with wild ideas to take his precious daughter away. But to his great relief, it wasn’t Edmond T. Summers III at all.
“Stoney!” Melanie called out, running as fast as she could in high heels that were definitely meant more for showing off her fine legs than for running.
He stopped short, his heart beating like a wild grizzly in his chest. He stood like stone until she was just close enough to touch. The smile he thought he never see again was beaming up at him. She was so close. He wanted to touch her. He wanted her in his arms, but he held himself back.
Melanie drew in a few deep breaths from running. “Just tell me something.”
“Anything.”
“When you just said that I was beautiful, you weren’t just saying I was pretty, were you?”
“You are beautiful,” he said softly. “It doesn’t matter if you’re all dolled up like this or if you’re full of dust and sweat working in the paddock. You’re just beautiful to me.”
“And you’re a stubborn old mule. Stoney Buxton, I love you,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
“I know.”
“And you love me, too.”
He couldn’t deny it. He did love her, more than anything that had ever touched his life. His breath caught in his throat. “You got that one right.”
“So please tell me why in the hell you’re leaving here without me by your side?”
He stared at her for a long moment, choking on words that needed to be said. He glanced up at the house, and then back at her. “I can’t give you this, Melanie.”
“I never asked you for this.”
“I have nothing to give you.”
“You have yourself. You have your love. That’s all I want. That's everything I want.”
“You’re not hearing me. I have nothing. Nothing but hard work and--”
“Well, that makes us even because as of yesterday afternoon, I’m cut off.”
His brow crinkled.
“That's right. I'll have my trust fund when I'm twenty-six, but until then, I'm broke.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. She smelled of fresh rain water and felt just as silky smooth. “And there is no way you're getting rid of me.”
He kissed her then, his heart filling with love beyond capacity. He swore he was never going to let her go. But he did let her go, and when he did, he saw how much love she really did have for him.
She smiled up at him. “Are you still too pigheaded to admit this is the real reason you came all the way to Long Island?”
He scooped her up in his arms again, crushing her against his chest and kissing her soundly on the lips. He’d missed her plenty these past few weeks. But until he had her in the circle of his arms, he never realized how much. “I’m a pigheaded man.”
She chuckled, tears filling her eyes. “I knew that already.”
He drew in a deep breath and feathered her cheek with his hand. “And I love you, Melanie. I couldn’t stand another minute without you. But I figured, if I’m going to be a wreck with worry every time you walk out the door, I might as well have you close by to reel in every now and then.”
He glanced back at her parents’ house and then at her. Slipping his arm out from under her, he backed up a step. “Are you sure you can be happy giving all this up for me?”
“What do you think, cowboy?”
Stoney held her tight. “I guess there is only one thing left to do.”
“What's that?”
He smiled. He didn't think he'd ever be as happy as he was that moment. “How do you feel about a summer wedding?”
THE END
#
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. If you enjoyed the book, please consider recommending the book to a friend and writing a review at one of the onlin
e retailers.
A bit of trivia about NOTHING BUT TROUBLE and my new TEXAS HEARTS series that will be published as ebooks in February 2012. I loved the secondary character, Mitch Broader, so much in Nothing But Trouble that I wanted to give him his own book. The problem was, NOTHING BUT TROUBLE was a standalone book. I had no plans to make it a series. When I started writing HER HEART FOR THE ASKING, I need a ranch hand and decided to pull Mitch in again. It didn’t matter to me that Mitch had been in Wyoming and now he was in Texas. I really didn’t think anyone would make the connection.
But I was wrong! After HER HEART FOR THE ASKING was published I received an email from a reader who had read NOTHING BUT TROUBLE and HER HEART FOR THE ASKING. She wanted to know when I was going to finally write Mitch Broader’s story. So I did. HIS HEART FOR THE TRUSTING was originally published 10 years ago, but I still periodically get comments about Mitch. If you want to revisit this sexy cowboy, please check into my TEXAS HEARTS series, available February 2012. I’ve included a little sample below. Enjoy!
Thank you, Lisa Mondello
TEXAS HEARTS SERIES coming FEBRUARY 2012
Her Heart for the Asking – Book 1
Mandy Morgan swore she’d never step foot in Texas again after Beau Gentry left her for life on the rodeo circuit eight years before. But now her uncle’s heart is failing and she has to convince him that surgery will save his life. She never dreamed the first thing she’d see when she stepped off the plane would be her biggest nightmare...the one man she’d never stopped loving.
Beau Gentry had the fever for two things: the rodeo and Mandy Morgan. But for Beau, loving Mandy was complicated by his father’s vendetta against her uncle. This led him to make the hardest decision of his life and he can still see the bitterness and hurt on Mandy’s face. All these years it has killed him to think Mandy had forgotten him and moved as far away as possible from him. But now they’re back in Texas, and he’s going to do all he can to win back her love.
Excerpt:
"We've got a couple of hours ahead of us. I'm going to get something cold to drink for the ride," Beau said, ambling toward the building. Turning back, he asked, "You want something?"
Nothing But Trouble Page 16
